North Shore Scenic Railroad 2020

FREE 2020 SOUVENIR EDITION

Photo by Dave Schauer

All Aboard & Welcome – We’re HERE!

By Ken Buehler

Railroads have survived the most difficult of times. This summer is no different. The North Shore Scenic Railroad is a microcosm of America today and railroading from the past. We have the advantage though of learning from our history.

Railroaders know all sorts of adversities. Trains have been slowed by horrific weather, falling mountains, labor strife and stopped in their “tracks” by financial ruin. Counting the Fall of the House of Cooke, the Northern Pacific Railroad, which began its Westward trek just outside of Duluth 150 years ago, suffered through three bankruptcies. The NP survived this terrible trifecta and is a part of today’s BNSF. (See Railroad Anniversaries – Page 3)

During World War I the railroads were taken over by the Federal Government from 1917 to 1920. It was possibly America’s largest and longest experiment with nationalization. Following the war, and the 1918 pandemic, railroads recorded their highest passenger numbers of all time. Nine years later came the Great Depression and again the railroads survived. But the two biggest challenges for the railroads still lay ahead — the popularity of automobiles and the takeoff of the airline industry.

In each instance the railroad industry survived and today America’s railroads are moving more

traffic and are stronger than ever. The reason for this is their sheer size. Huge armies of workers built the railroads, mammoth machines were invented to help them, steam locomotives became the most powerful engines of the day and today’s long trains and mighty diesels are modern and efficient. There’s strength in the basic nature of railroads and the men and women who run them.

We are no different. In fact, we’re luckier than most. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is housed in the St. Louis County Depot, a publicly owned building that Is on the National Register of Historic Places. Our tracks that we run on are the property of our partner the St. Louis & Lake Counties Regional Rail Authority. And then there’s our men and women railroaders who are volunteers!

We cancelled some trains. Our volunteers waited patiently to return to work. Many of our ticket holders rescheduled or gave their already purchased tickets to the Museum as a donation. That kind of support is why we are here today, running a railroad that is a slice of history and a whole lot of fun.

With deep appreciation for our volunteers and crew, our partners and most importantly you, we are able to continue as a working piece of railroad history. The North Shore Scenic Railroad survives to remind you of your favorite train rides from the past or to make a memory for someone taking their first train ride with us today.

Thank You!

Cleaning Protocol and Best Practices for Our Guests/Passengers

• Train is deep cleaned each morning.

• Cleaning is done during your train ride and between trips.

• Crew members wear masks and gloves and use the recommended cleaning protocols of the Centers for Disease Control and MN Department of Health.

• Guests/passengers should assist by: washing/sanitizing your hands, covering coughs, and help to practice Social Distancing. Guests/passengers are required to wear masks.

FRONT COVER is a photograph of Great Northern #400 Hustle Muscle pulling a North Shore Scenic Railroad excursion train along the Lakewalk. Here's another picture of this historic SD45. It was the first one of this model ever in service. It is owned by the Great Northern Railway Historical Society and is on loan to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. For more information on the GNRHS visit their website at www.gnrhs.org.

Railroad Anniversaries

By Ken Buehler

A century and a half ago America was changing. A mostly rural, agrarian society was on the move. It was no longer the norm that one was born, lived and died within a 50-mile radius. Immigrants, hopeful for what would become the American Dream, arrived on all shores. A Civil War was over.

This nationwide change was being transported across the country on two ribbons of steel as the railroads stretched their tracks from coast to coast. Last year was the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. This year is the anniversary of the second one chartered.

Federally chartered in 1864, the first spike wasn’t driven until Feb. 15, 1870 at Carlton, Minn., just outside of Duluth. The Northern Pacific Railway is 150 years old this year. Taking a northern tier transcontinental route, the NP struggled to meet expectations. It descended into bankruptcy three times on its cross country journey. Its “golden spike,” to formally finish the line, came in September 1883 when the construction crews from the east met their counterparts from the west at Gold Creek, Mont.

Today the Northern Pacific is a part of BNSF formed out of the Great Northern, CB&Q Railway,

and SP&S to form the Burlington Northern and most recently the Santa Fe. The first three were part of the Hill family of railroads controlled by Minnesota rail baron and tycoon James J. Hill. Hill’s Great Northern completed its transcontinental journey in 1872.

Pieces of history from all those railroads populate the collection of artifacts in the care of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in the St. Louis County Depot where your ride today began. The first thing most visitors see when they walk into the museum are two Northern Pacific steam locomotives, the Minnetonka and the #2435. The smaller 0-4-0 was one of the original four engines the NP purchased to start construction of the line. They were the Minnetonka, Itasca, Ottertail and St. Cloud, one of which was shipped around Cape Horn to begin building from the west coast.

Interesting that also in the collection of the museum is the LAST engine purchased by the NP prior to the 1970 merger that formed the Burlington Northern. It is #3617 and 3,600hp SD45. In between those two engines the museum has a pair of giant NP wrecking cranes, several passenger coaches, some freight equipment, a caboose, an RPO car, two snowplows and those two steam engines that greet our guest/visitors.

If you did the math in this story you figured out this is also the anniversary of the NP’s first successor railroad the Burlington Northern celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The steam locomotive Minnetonka is on display in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in the St. Louis County Depot.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Terry

The Minnetonka, circa 18790. Photo courtesy of Marquette Regional History Center

Northern Pacific Groundbreaking, circa 1870.

The Completion of the 1st Transcontinental Railroad

The magic of

Holiday Season rides on the Christmas City Express

the

Trains run from the Depot NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 20

It’s the story of a young girl traveling by train to visit her grandparents in Duluth on Christmas Eve. The story is performed in the Railroad Museum at the Depot starting with live music and carolers against a backdrop of decorated trains and storefronts. Then take a train ride past the lights of Bentleyville and along the edge of Lake Superior with hot cocoa and cookies. A special guest will visit and have a magical gift for every passenger!

Chosen one of the “BEST Christmas Train Rides in America” by MSN www.duluthtrains.com for tickets or call 800-423-1273

Sponsored by:

By Ken Buehler

Huge advancements in technology have always created their own language. We talk on our cellphones about 4G and now 5G networks, as if most of us know what that means. I don’t. Kodachrome gave way to the pixel. Xerox became a verb and all the bells and whistles once referred to a 1950s automobile with every imaginable feature like power windows, seats and mirrors. Now a computer software package with every imaginable option has all the bells and whistles.

But before the advancements of cellphones, digital cameras, computers and automobiles with heated cup holders, what were the bells and whistles back then? They weren’t features. They were great proclamations. Here’s what happened.

The end of the great race across America was nearly over. In a dry basin of sagebrush, surrounded on three sides by mountains, in a part of Utah little known before then, the two armies building the Transcontinental Railroad were final-

ly going to meet. Promontory Point was the arbitrarily selected end zone of a high stakes game that both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific were playing to lay as much track as possible before Congress cut off their funding.

The Central Pacific reached there on April 30. However, the Californians would have to wait another week before the Union Pacific crew came into view. By May 7 only 2,500 feet of ungraded land lay between the two railroads. That afternoon CP President, and by then the Governor of California, Leland Stanford, pulled in on his private train for the next day’s celebration. Shortly after his arrival a representative of the Union Pacific told Stanford that the joining of the rails would have to wait three days until the 10th of May.

The delay was blamed on a washout blocking the train carrying UP Vice President Thomas Durant. Turns out that was just half of the story.

The original Golden Spike Ceremony was held in Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869. The spike weighed 14.05 ounces of 14 carat gold. At today’s market it is worth $17,948. The original is on display at Stanford University in California. The school is named after Leland Stanford one of the original investors in the Central Pacific and served as President of the Railroad and Governor of California. He pounded the golden spike into a railroad tie made from a laurel tree. On his first swing he missed the spike. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress/Public Domain, used with permission

North Shore Scenic Railroad 30th Anniversary - How About 134th?

In the waning years of passenger trains on the Lakefront Line, before the introduction of BUDD car service, this was one of the last trains to run out of the Duluth Depot. It is DM&IR #402, a Pacific type locomotive, a passenger/RPO/ Baggage car and Solarium coach/lounge car. The train is bound for Two Harbors and the East Range. March 1957 from the W.C. Olsen collection – used with permission.

By Ken Buehler

While the North Shore Scenic Railroad is celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Lakefront line your train is running on was built by the Duluth & Iron Range Railway 134 years ago, just 17 years after the Transcontinental Railroad.

These tracks were an afterthought for D&IR. In 1884 the railroad opened its line from Two Harbors up to Minnesota’s first iron ore mine in Tower Sudan on the Vermilion Range. Similar to the Transcontinental, the railroad held a land grant earning the company a portion of adjacent property for each mile of track laid.

However, there were disagreements among the early owners of the D&IR. Out of spite more than anything, the ones who lost that argument – and the railroad – convinced the government to hold off giving the D&IR its land until tracks were laid, but not necessarily needed, between Two Harbors to Duluth. That was done in 1886, 134 years ago.

Most of the traffic on the line was lumber shipped down from Knife River off the Duluth & Northern Minnesota, a common carrier owned by the Alger Smith lumber company. There was passenger traffic up until 1961 and the last commercial freight went by here in 1982.

One of the most unique rides offered by the

D&IR was the Fisherman’s Train. It ran on Sunday mornings, after church, and would drop anglers off at north shore streams, then pick them up later in the day. In the middle of July those trains also carried women and children who would pick an abundance of blueberries, which grew wide along the right-of-way.

The flag stop at Larsmont was also unique. An unscheduled stop at a location without a regular station, where a flag is hoisted to tell the train to pick up passengers, is called a flag stop. Such an arrangement existed at the tiny North Shore community of Larsmont. But it wasn’t people that got on the train. Larsmont was a fishing village and when the flag was up the train crew knew there were barrels of freshly caught lake trout and herring on ice that needed to be transported to Duluth for sale.

Today the North Shore Scenic Railroad operates on the Lakefront line with regular tourist train service including trips to Two Harbors, our popular Music and Pizza Trains, Elegant Dinner Trains, mirth, mayhem and murder on our who-done-it Murder Mystery Trains, a beer train, Pumpkin Patch Trains, and our very own Christmas City Express.

Due to COVID-19, this schedule may change. Go to duluthtrains.com or by calling our ticket agents at 800-423-1273 or locally at 218-722-1273.

The Railroad Gives Duluth Its Lakewalk

By Ken Buehler

Even though the line was now owned by the St. Louis & Lake Counties Regional Rail Authority, train operations were delayed until construction was finished on the extension of I-35 through Duluth. The work disrupted the line in several locations resulting in the first five miles being rebuilt by MNDOT. It also allowed something wonderful to happen.

Using the Railroad’s 100-foot right-of-way along the shore of Lake Superior as a corridor, the City of Duluth was able to build a Lakewalk between the train tracks and the water’s edge. The 7.25 miles of paved pathway stretches from the corner of Lake Superior all the way out to Brighton Beach. It would not have been possible had the railroad not been saved. Today the two popular attractions run side by side separated by a safety fence.

Duluth’s Lakewalk and Scenic Railroad corridor have been touted as one of the finest rail and trail initiatives in the nation. Once you ride the train or walk the walk, you’ll agree.

Top: Construction of the North Shore Scenic Railroad along the I-35 extension through the Endian area of town in 1990. This location was once a yard, depot and engine facility along the D&IR Lakefront line.

Bottom: Today the NSSR rightof-way is shared by Duluth’s very popular Lakewalk.

First Class by Rail

By Josh Miller

The railroads have a long history of delivering a first-class experience for their passengers. Throughout the generations, guests have been treated to fine dining, deluxe sleeping accommodations, and exquisite service. At the North Shore Scenic Railroad, I’m proud that we can offer at least a small taste of this legacy from the golden-age, first class experiences.

We are excited to be offering first class services on our daily trains starting this summer. This includes our Dome Car seating, lounge space, and some extra service options for those interested in paying just a little more for a unique experience.

Later in August, guests can ride “first class” on the evening train and have a fine dining fourcourse meal prepared by the best chefs Duluth has to offer. The Elegant Dinner Train runs Fridays and Saturdays throughout late summer into fall and gives guests a unique dining experience found nowhere else in the Twin Ports.

Experience the St. Louis County Depot.

Endless Life of Historic Trains?

By Josh Miller

Think what they would say if you were able to go back in time and tell the builders of the railcars you are riding on, such as Ralph Budd, Pullman, or Lowey, that over 70 years in the future, people would be still using the same traincars they built, for fun, scenic railroad excursions? They would probably tell you “they’ll never last that long,” and would probably add some profanity in there somewhere. It is a true testament to the hard working, mostly volunteer, maintenance crews who keep ours and many of the heritage railroads operating as well as we do.

Our past few years have had plenty of mechanical problems on the railroad. At no fault of our own, the people who built our historic equipment simply never designed them to be used as long as we are attempting (and for the most part have succeeded) to use them for. Or did they?

All across the country, railroad museums and tourist railroads like the ones in Duluth restore and operate their historic railroad equipment. Some of the equipment has held up better than others, but for the most part, the

HISTORIC TRAINS continued on PAGE 9

HISTORIC TRAINS

continued from PAGE 8

heritage railroad industry has some really great restoration work accomplished, and the historic railroad equipment keeps rollin’ on. But why?

Through the restoration projects of museums like this one, a tiny piece of American history is not only preserved, but presented AND interpreted for the public. Experiencing rail travel and transport as it was when our country was young and was just being built is a fantastic way to honor many people who came before us and hoped for your better future than their own.

This summer, members of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum will be finishing some very significant rehabilitation and restoration projectsback to working order: Steam Locomotive #28/#332 is getting a “new” air compressor and will run again in 2021. The Silver Club Dome Car is in service, and coach #33 has been completely renovated to celebrate its 102nd birthday. Meanwhile, fresh paint has been applied to the W24 and Rainier Club cars, and the Steam locomotive NP #2435 Engine has been cosmetically restored for preservation in the museum. Hopefully projects like these, among many others across the country will continue into the foreseeable future.

Two Harbors’ Little Engine That Could

By Ken Buehler

It’s the reason we are here. The red earth the Native American First Nation people used for dyes and coloring was abundant in northeastern Minnesota. It was of little other use to them. But for America it was the raw material of a revolution that was seeing wood and iron replaced by steel. The huge blast furnaces in Pittsburgh and across the Lehigh Valley were insatiable. After the Civil War the search for fresh deposits of iron ore became a national obsession.

In 1865 a gold rush brought prospectors to Lake Vermillion in northeastern Minnesota. The gold was of a quality and quantity that was unworthy of the rush. But what they did find instead was hematite, the good stuff. It assayed at 69.9% pure iron ore.

Memorial Engine “3 Spot” D. & I. R. R. R. Two Harbors, Minn.

TWO HARBORS continued on PAGE 12

Knife River Saves Its Depot

By Ken Buehler, Todd Lindahl and Paul von Goertz

The community of Knife River, an historic stop along the North Shore Scenic Railroad, is rallying to save a piece of its history, their Depot. Volunteers and contractors have done a remarkable job and have big plans for what is becoming an historic district focusing on Knife River’s past as a fishing village and a railroad town.

The Duluth & Iron Range Railway’s Lake Division connected Two Harbors to Duluth. It reached Knife River on Oct. 24, 1886.

Knife River became an important station stop

along the new route of the D&IR. In 1899 the Alger Smith logging company is up and running and logs carried out of the woods by their Duluth & Northern Minnesota Railroad are interchanged to the D&IR at the Depot connection in Knife River. To handle the additional traffic, and better serve the community, the D&IR moved the original Lester River depot, built in 1886 for commuter traffic to downtown Duluth, up to Knife River.

The North Shore Scenic Railroad runs summer picnic trains and the Holiday Julebyen and related Troll Trains from Duluth to the now restored Knife River Depot. Go to duluthtrains.com for schedules and information (Subject to change).

Photo courtesy of Paul von Goertz

TRANSCONTINENTAL continued from PAGE 4

On May 6, on his way to Promontory, Durant’s train was mugged by an armed mob of several hundred disgruntled workers who were demanding their back pay. They switched his car onto a sidetrack and chained it to the rails. Desperate telegraphs to nearby army bases for assistance were intercepted. The impasse was resolved when Durant finally surrendered and paid the workers.

On the morning of the 10th the two engines recorded in that famous photo approached. A crowd of about 500-700 people, mostly workers, gathered in front of them. The actual pounding of the golden spike took only a few minutes before the dignitaries returned to their respective trains to continue the celebration in private. Meanwhile the rest of the country went crazy nuts.

The momentous finish was not only pounded

TWO HARBORS continued from PAGE 10

In 1873 Philadelphia investor Charlemagne Tower organized an expedition to Lake Vermillion to bring back samples of the ore. Had it not been in the middle of a national panic, he might have gone back for more. It wasn’t until the economy improved in 1880 that Tower started construction of a 68-mile railroad from his Sudan underground mine in Tower, Minn., on the shore of Lake Vermillion, to docks he was building in what would become today’s Two Harbors. The Duluth & Iron Range Railway carried its first load of Minnesota iron ore on July 31, 1884.

To build the railroad they needed an engine. Baldwin had built the 2-6-0 #3 for a railroad in Mexico that never sent payment so they sold it to the D&IR instead and therein lies a story.

Matilda’s Dog Bakery

down with gold and silver spikes but pounded out on brass. A telegrapher, by the name of Shilling, had all the lines cleared coast to coast when he used his brass key to tap out “Done” to a waiting nation. ( _ . . _ _ _ _ . . )

In Chicago a “spontaneous” parade seven miles long jammed the streets. In Philadelphia flags were raised everywhere and the bells of Independence Hall chimed in with church bells from across the city. One hundred guns fired salutes in New York’s City Hall Park. In San Francisco the celebration “came into an uproar and lasted well into the night.”

But nowhere was the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad more widely triumphed than where it started in the California hometown of the Big Four of the CP, Sacramento.

“At Sacramento the bells and whistles of thirty assembled locomotives led the gen-

The modest-sized engine was the perfect pickup truck for building the new railroad through the muskeg and forest. It was to be the construction engine that carried materials for the work crews. Because it was a wood burner, there was plenty of nearby fuel cleared from the right-of-way.

The #3, or Three Spot as single digit engines are often referred to, came to Duluth and was loaded on a barge. The tug Ella G. Stone towed the engine and scow to Two Harbors because there wasn’t rail link at the time. Captain Cornelius Flynn was at the helm.

The voyage began on a summer’s day and Lake Superior was calm. But the lake’s mood can change. The skies suddenly darkened, the wind direction changed and a Nor’easter blew out of nowhere. The waves roared up and threatened to sink the scow and pull the tug down with it. Most

eral chorus of all the bells and whistles of the city in one prolonged demonstration of joy.” - San Francisco Examiner 5/12/1869

From that reporter’s summation of joy and jubilation came the phrase that for then and now means an all-out, no holds, show of enthusiasm for a brand new triumph and success…..all the bells and whistles!

You know, if you work it hard enough, it all comes back to the railroad.

Sources:

“The Iron Horse” – The Impact of the Railroads on 19th Century American Society – Marieke Van Ophem; 1994-2012 GMW

San Francisco Examiner – 5/12/1869

New York Herald – 5/11/1869

Fairlex Dictionary of Idioms – 2015 Edition

captains would have saved their ships by cutting the tow lines, but Captain Flynn is credited with saving his crew and cargo by expertly riding out the storm. The Three Spot arrived in Two Harbors, safely, on Aug. 29, 1883.

After the railroad was finished, the tiny engine was too weak to pull heavy ore trains so it was sold to the Alger Smith lumber company in Knife River. Several other owners later left the engine abandoned in a scrap yard. It was saved and restored by the D&IR Veteran Employees Association and put on display at the Two Harbors depot in 1923. An historic ore car and bobber caboose make up her train.

Today the D&IR is part of the Canadian National Railway and is still hauling iron ore to the docks in Two Harbors.